14 Mar Book Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Some books creep up on you quietly, their full impact only settling in long after you’ve finished reading. Never Let Me Go is one of those books. It’s not loud or dramatic, but it is deeply unsettling, a novel that lingers in the back of your mind and makes you question what it really means to be human. Ishiguro crafts a story that is both intimate and profoundly existential, weaving together love, memory, and morality in a way that feels almost deceptively simple—until you realize just how much it has left you thinking.

What’s it about?

At first glance, Never Let Me Go feels like a coming-of-age story, following Kathy H., who narrates her life in a quiet, reflective voice. She tells us about her childhood at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside, where she and her closest friends, Ruth and Tommy, grow up in what seems to be an ordinary, if slightly isolated, environment.

But from the very beginning, something feels off.

The students at Hailsham aren’t like other children. They have no families, no contact with the outside world, and their education is strangely focused on creativity. They are constantly encouraged to produce artwork, which is then taken away by mysterious figures known only as the school’s “guardians.” While the students don’t question it much at the time, there’s a sense that their art is being collected for a reason they don’t fully understand.

As Kathy looks back on her time at Hailsham, she recalls the deep bonds and tensions between herself, Ruth, and Tommy. Ruth is charismatic, controlling, and sometimes manipulative, while Tommy is emotional and prone to outbursts. Kathy, in contrast, is more reserved, observing the world around her with quiet curiosity. The relationships between the three shift and evolve as they navigate the complexities of friendship, jealousy, and young love, but always with the unspoken shadow of their true purpose hanging over them.

As the novel progresses, the unsettling truth about Hailsham’s students is gradually revealed. They are clones, created for the sole purpose of organ donation. Their entire existence has been carefully controlled, their lives structured around a fate they cannot escape. Eventually, once they reach adulthood, they begin donating their organs until they “complete”—a euphemism for dying.

Kathy, now in her early thirties, has become a “carer”, someone who looks after donors as they go through the painful process of giving up parts of themselves. Through her narrative, she reflects on the moments of joy, love, and hope that defined her youth, even as she and her friends gradually came to understand the full weight of their existence.

The novel takes a heartbreaking turn as Kathy and Tommy, now adults, try to fight against their fate. They hear rumors of a way to defer donations if two clones can prove they are truly in love. Clinging to this fragile hope, they seek out their former guardians, only to learn that it was never true—there was never a way out. Their lives were always leading toward the same inevitable conclusion.

In the end, Kathy is left alone, reflecting on everything she has lost. There is no rebellion, no escape—just acceptance, a quiet resignation to a fate she has always known was coming. The novel closes with an image of Kathy standing in a field, watching the wind move across the land, as she prepares for her own inevitable future.

What This Chick Thinks

A haunting and beautifully understated novel

What makes Never Let Me Go so powerful is its restraint. Ishiguro never gives us dramatic revelations or action-packed moments. Instead, he lets the truth creep in slowly, almost imperceptibly, until we suddenly realize just how much has been taken away from these characters. There’s something deeply unsettling about how calmly they accept their fate, how they never question the system that has sealed their destinies.

A devastating exploration of love and loss

At its core, this novel isn’t just about clones or ethical dilemmas—it’s about love, friendship, and the quiet ache of knowing that everything you care about will eventually slip away. Kathy and Tommy’s relationship is heartbreakingly tender, filled with moments of hope that are ultimately crushed beneath the weight of reality. The novel’s final act is one of the most emotionally devastating things I’ve ever read, not because of what happens, but because of how inevitable it all feels.

The unsettling ethical questions

The real horror of Never Let Me Go isn’t in its dystopian setting—it’s in the moral indifference of the world that created it. The clones exist to serve a purpose, nothing more, and even as we see their humanity, their emotions, their love, we also see how easily they are discarded. It forces you to ask uncomfortable questions: What makes a person a person? Where does the line between “human” and “not human” truly exist?

A novel that lingers

Some books fade from memory once you finish them, but this one sticks with you. The quiet sorrow that runs through every page, the lingering questions, the sheer inevitability of it all—it’s the kind of novel that sits in your chest long after you turn the last page.

Final Thoughts

Never Let Me Go is one of the most heartbreaking, beautifully written novels I have ever read. It’s a story about love and loss, about the small joys that make life worth living even when you know it won’t last. It doesn’t offer easy answers or grand resolutions—it just asks you to sit with the weight of its story and feel it.

If you’re looking for something that will shake you, break you, and leave you staring at the ceiling long after you’ve finished, this is the book.

Rating: 10/10

Try it if you like

• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – Another masterfully subtle novel by Ishiguro, exploring memory, regret, and lost opportunities.
• The Giver by Lois Lowry – A similarly understated dystopian novel that raises ethical questions about control, choice, and what it means to be truly alive.
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – A complex, beautifully written novel that weaves together different lives and explores themes of fate, identity, and humanity.